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    Bush's Visitor Center

    4.6 (116 reviews)
    Closed 9:00 am - 4:00 pm

    Bush's Visitor Center Photos

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    So true...
    Alan A.

    Everything you wanted to know about beans, but were afraid to ask. If beans are your thang, this is your place. Part museum, part gift shop, part restaurant. I had no idea that Bush's offered so many different types of beans. No idea. It is actually pretty interesting to learn about the history of the Bush family and their beans. Lots of interactive displays, videos to see and watch. We didn't try the restaurant, but if you like beans...

    Brandy G.

    Bush's Baked Beans are an American staple of the pantry with their canned bean selections (and one that I grew up seeing on the shelves of our own cupboards) During a recent visit to the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area we took a little detour to visit the place where Bush's story began. At this quant visitor center you'll find a museum as well as an adjoining cafe on the site of the original general store where the family got its start in the community (within sights of the original family home that is still on the grounds and open to the public in Decembers). Plan to spend at least 1-2 hours making your way through the free and very in-depth museum and the staff on hand were friendly and happy to answer any questions they could. Every employee I interacted with seemed genuinely happy to be there. Def worth a pit stop to learn more about the history of the family behind these iconic beans!

    Elizabeth K.

    This place is really neat. It was the perfect pitstop for us to stretch our legs. The museum is child friendly which was great because my child wanted to run immediately. They recently added a partnership with Bluey and even had Bluey Baked Beans for sale in their gift shop! It was interesting to learn about how the company came about and even more interesting to see the wide variety of beans available. I definitely recommend this as a pitstop for parents who need to get out. Although we didn't utilize it, they also have a cafe attached. It appeared to be very popular as there was a line at the time that we visited.

    Museum
    Luci S.

    I love the Bush visitor center and have been twice now. The drive is scenic, the photo ops are fun, the museum is very informative, and the merch is 10/10. I now have a key chain, denim apron, and t shirt. Also it's nice to stock up on beans as someone who does enjoy eating beans. The staff could not be friendlier.

    Jennifer D.

    A fun experience while visiting Tennessee! Free samples, lots of souvenirs and an informational and educational timeline museum.

    Jimmy T.

    We stopped here with a large group from our church. I was the bus driver. We had about 40 people in our group. This was a fun and informative place to visit! We love Bushs Baked Beans and often wondered what the process was. On a personal note; I worked for a major grocery store chain for 34 years in distribution as a manager before I retired so I was saw pallets and pallets of Bushs Baked Beans come through our warehouse. Our senior adults loved this tour they gave us. If you are ever in the area I highly recommend you stop in a see the Bushs history!!! All the staff were super friendly and very helpful!

    Kayla B.

    This place is absolutely freakin' adorable. It's like someone was given a marketing budget to make Bush's Beans relatable/viral for people, and they did a really good job with it. Not only is it free (bonus awesome!), but it's just really fun if you go in expecting a cute, kitschy adventure. If you want to go slowly and explore everything, expect to spend about 2 hours here. You can get the gist of the experience with about 45 minutes, though, if you skip over some reading and don't watch the videos. There are no bean smells or tastes in the musem itself. If someone in your party is very bean-averse, they can still come along with no issue. PROS: -It's free! There is no cost for admission. You can choose to go to the restaurant afterwards or buy anything within the general store. I highly recommend at least picking up a few cans of beans after you're done, though. Not only are they cheaper than the grocery store, but it helps this place stay free. -Really well-staffed. It would have been easy to run this place on bare bones staffing, but they don't. There are 4-5 people manning the general store and even staff members scattered throughout the museum itself. -Lots and lots of videos and audio. If you're someone who doesn't really like reading, you can watch all of their prerecorded videos. Each one of the short movies is on a timer, so you can sit around and wait for them to start. -Tons of cool photo opportunities. There are awesome dedicated selfie/photo spots in addition to really cool museum displays (a gigantic, room-sized bean!) that you'll probably want to take pictures of. Lots of great ways to take photos with your family/group that aren't the standard group photos. The staff always offered to take our group photos for us every time they saw us taking some. -The attached Bush's Restaurant was equally amazing and a great way to top off our adventure, but as it's technically a separate business, I'm leaving that out of this review. CONS: -Literally nothing. It's free, it's fun, it's memorable, and it will end up being a highlight of our trip here. Love that this exists.

    Kitchen from the old times
    Mike V.

    Made it to the bean homeland! This was a fun visit, lots of information about how the Bush family got things started, and lots of fun interactive experiences for the kids! It's a self guided tour, you can get through rather quickly. The staff were amazingly friendly, and incredibly patient with the children. So much history behind one of America's favorite side! At the end of the tour, there is plenty of amazing bean merchandise for sale!!

    Old school method
    Yochanan H.

    First, the video regarding the history of the Bush Brothers and Company and the process of producing the final canned product is captioned! Yes, that's right, it includes closed captioning. You'd be surprised at the number of museums, factories, etc., that don't include them or are not on for the guests. The majority of the time, we're omitted, and with the deaf and hard-of-hearing population in the United States being at 1.8 million people, that's a shame. So, thank you, Bush Brothers and Company. Next, there are other areas of interest, like family photos and a history of collaboration with other companies, but the other attraction is their general store. In it, you'll find plenty of canned beans, several that we've never seen at our local grocery store, like Simmerin Caribbean Black Beans, Southwest Zest Pinto Beans, Organic Soups, and many more. So, stop at the Bush's Visitors Center the next time you pass through to reach the Carolinas or head to the Knoxville region. You might find something you'll like.

    Enterence
    Christine B.

    Drove 30 miles out if the way to come here. Worth the stop. Very informative and the staff was so sweet. Offered to take our picture, gave us a quick rundown on the museum. Was worth the stop

    Brigitte L.

    What a cool place to visit!! It's a quick stroll through the museum that leads you into the gift shop. You can watch a video of the plant also while visiting! Loved the picture ops available in the front. As soon as we walked in we were greeted with such friendly staff. They even offered to take our group picture in front of the Bush's sign. Saw a few items on the final wall that showed the aisle of all Bush's offerings that we've never seen in stores before! They just released their zero sugar baked beans this past January. Found that they have dips and chili too!? But don't panic, you can purchase these in the gift shop and they are reasonably priced at a little over a dollar. We stocked up on a few :) and the staff member said that if you don't see the items in your store that you can ask your store or you can call the number on the can to ask that they bring to your area.

    bean leggings
    Debi R.

    This was a random stop for lunch while passing through. The cafe is good lunch stop. The museum has the history of the family's start into the business of canning then into beans. So interesting. My biggest surprise was that there are only 3 things going into their can of beans. A piece of raw bacon, then the blanched beans and lastly sauce. The can is sealed and turned to mix ingredients. All of their beans are then cooked in the can. The family home is on site with a huge manufacturing plant, museum, gift shop and cafe. Nice place to visit with very interesting and friendly staff. You can find their bean products that are not found at your local markets and the price is also much less.

    BEANS
    Alexa C.

    10/10 a fun little side trip. We stopped by here on our way to Pigeon Forge and have absolutely NO REGRETS. Staff were so friendly and this place was way bigger than you'd expect. They have a whole museum dedicated to the history of BUSHS baked beans AND a cafe you can eat at. AND THE CUTEST LITTLE GIFT SHOP.

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    Review Highlights - Bush's Visitor Center

    The visitor center is laid out by decades of the Bush family's work in the canned goods industry.

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    Museum of Appalachia - Inside a cabin

    Museum of Appalachia

    4.5(52 reviews)
    44.3 mi

    It's $20 to walk through and check out the historical buildings.She told me that it was about .7…read moremiles but I tracked it and it was 1.43miles... so you'll definitely get your steps in. They have a cute little shop, bathrooms and limited food. But a good place to check out if you like history.

    It's apparently a Smithsonian affiliate, but you'd never look around and wonder whether you were on…read morethe National Mall, which is kind of the point. The array of historic cabins and exhibit-filled barns at the base of a rolling hill conveys the appropriate atmosphere. The level of detail in the artifacts and their presentation is high. Owing to my disposition I found extensive information on health and medicine, but there were plenty of other topics to explore. The live farm aspects of the museum held a large number of peacocks for some reason (but only one peahen that I could see, which the peacocks did not appear to be happy about), as well as various pigs and goats. There was a significant admission charge (lower with AAA), and I wondered if it would be worth it, but having given myself two hours, I ended up using most of that and giving up towards the end more for lack of energy than lack of exhibits. Younger children will appreciate the animals, while older adults will read into some of the exhibits more, but anyone visiting in good faith is likely to find something of interest.

    Photos
    Museum of Appalachia
    Museum of Appalachia - Daniel Boons cabin

    Daniel Boons cabin

    Museum of Appalachia - Interesting exhibit on death, this hearse as well as caskets with viewing windows

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    Interesting exhibit on death, this hearse as well as caskets with viewing windows

    Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Mushroom

    Great Smoky Mountains National Park

    4.7(429 reviews)
    20.1 mi

    Great Smoky Mountain National Park has been on my bucket list for many years. I was hoping that…read morespring break would be down season at the Park, but the Park was busy!!! We had a fabulous visit to this vast natural wonder. We learned that Park is the largest natural habitat in the continental U.S. The signature "smoky" appearance of the mountains is caused by an evaporation of organic rich moisture released by the vegetation within the Park. We started our visit by stopping at the visitors center to pick up a parking permit ($5/day) and maps ($1). I was glad we picked up maps because there is very little internet connectivity in the park, so we lost our navigation tools. The leaves were not on the trees yet (April) so we had magnificent uninterrupted views of the mountains and skylines. Spring wild flowers were in bloom. And we actually saw a mother bear with two cubs crossing the road. Each day during our visit we explored a different part of the park. We hiked to waterfalls and enjoyed scenic overlooks. We enjoyed exploring historic cabins and cemeteries. Popular sites were crowded and sometimes we had to wait for parking. Plan to arrive early. The park is filled with parking areas to pull off and enjoy the views or hike. Rest areas are available at many of the major sites. Leased dogs are only allowed in camping and parking areas and on two of the many trails. Bring good walking shoes, a hiking stick is helpful, water and sun glasses. You probably need to bring snacks, but keep those secure from wildlife.

    ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!…read more This is my first time coming to the park and it was an amazing sight to see. It is something that I think everyone should experience. I am already wanting to go back to spend a little more time than what I did. We came by here on our way to another place. We were supposed to come back by here but didn't get the chance. So another trip it is!

    Photos
    Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Babbling brooks

    Babbling brooks

    Great Smoky Mountains National Park
    Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Sugarlands Visitor Center

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    Sugarlands Visitor Center

    Sunsphere - Enter here

    Sunsphere

    4.1(76 reviews)
    32.7 mi

    The Sunsphere is an amazing architectural wonder and remnant from the 1982 World's Fair in…read moreKnoxville. My visit to the Sunsphere made my day. The 342' steel structure was designed by Don Shell and completed in 1982. The glass on the 75' sphere is coated with gold dust. During the World's Fair, a small restaurant operated at the top and visitors could visit the observation deck for $2. We were passing through Knoxville and my daughter wanted to visit. Today, visitors can pay to go up to the observation deck of the giant structure. ($10 for adults). You can buy tickets on line or at the Sunsphere. When we arrived, the Sphere was closed until 1:30, so we did not go up in it. But we enjoyed walking around and taking photos. There is parking a block south and the walk through the park is lovely. There is a drop off circle near the Sunshpere as well. Let's are not allowed in the structure.

    This was a great break from the bar crawl yesterday. It is $10, very accessible, not crowded at…read moreall on a Thursday morning. Accessible bathrooms at the top. It is a short trip around the sphere but they have lots of interesting information, fun facts, and we followed a UT student tour so we got all the scoop on the school and fun activities around town. I would recommend adding this your city tour plans. Also good for kids.

    Photos
    Sunsphere - Sunsphere, 200 ft plus to the observation level. Event space and a few offices up top

    Sunsphere, 200 ft plus to the observation level. Event space and a few offices up top

    Sunsphere - Rainbow bridge

    Rainbow bridge

    Sunsphere

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    Ober Mountain

    Ober Mountain

    2.5(802 reviews)
    18.3 mi

    I visited Ober Mountain in early January of this year and spent 2 days enjoyng activities…read more The first day consisted of participating in the fun pass, which gave us a list of activites we could do on the mountain like going to the zoo, ice skating, ice bumper cars, scenic lifts, etc. As an adult, the pass felt a little underwhelming but I can imagine a kid enjoying their time with this pass. I would recommend that you find a groupon/deal to get it at a cheaper rate rather than the usual $50/ticket they offer it for because I genuinely do not think it is worth the $50. I would definitely NOT recommend the fun pass for adults, but would for children (at the discounted price). Our second day on the mountain, we went snowboarding and that was a very fun time for my group and I. Ober has snow machines, so it is not real snow and instead is icy, artificial snow. I can imagine during the colder season, it may be softer and covered much more. I went in early January for reference. The employees are very nice with helping you strap in boots and understanding how to strap into board as well. I decided to do a lesson, which I would recommend for anyone who has not snowboarded before. Although I enjoyed my time, I do agree that it is fairly pricy, considering the size of the mountain compared to other resorts I have seen. I understand the weather determines which lifts are avaliable but the "snow" was ice, no where near snow texture. I think a day of snowboarding would cost roughly $150+ here for day pass and gear rental. My downsides for Ober are the price, the fun pass, and the snow.

    We visited Ober Mountain and had a really fun and memorable experience as a family. We had already…read morepurchased our Fun Pass tickets, and redeeming/printing them at the kiosks was quick and easy. One of the highlights was riding the Gatlinburg Aerial Tramway up and down the mountain--it was truly an experience in itself with amazing views. Once at the top, there was plenty to do. The kids loved the carousel and rode it multiple times every time we passed by. We also enjoyed the ice bumper cars, the wildlife habitat, and visiting Gatlinburg SkyLift Park. One of the most magical moments of the day was when it started snowing during our SkyLift ride--it was absolutely beautiful and something we won't forget. It was definitely very cold, but the scenery made it completely worth it. Unfortunately, the mountain coasters were closed due to the rain turning into snow, but there were still plenty of other activities to enjoy. The only thing I wish we had gotten to do was ice skating--the line and wait time were just too long before we had to leave. Overall, it was a very fun experience that everyone in our family enjoyed. We would definitely visit again!We visited Ober Mountain and had a really fun and memorable experience as a family. We had already purchased our Adventure Pass tickets, and redeeming/printing them at the kiosks was quick and easy. One of the highlights was riding the Gatlinburg Aerial Tramway up and down the mountain--it was truly an experience in itself with amazing views. Once at the top, there was plenty to do. The kids loved the carousel and rode it multiple times every time we passed by. We also enjoyed the ice bumper cars, the wildlife habitat, and visiting Gatlinburg SkyLift Park. One of the most magical moments of the day was when it started snowing during our SkyLift ride--it was absolutely beautiful and something we won't forget. It was definitely very cold, but the scenery made it completely worth it. Unfortunately, the mountain coasters were closed due to the rain turning into snow, but there were still plenty of other activities to enjoy. The only thing I wish we had gotten to do was ice skating--the line and wait time were just too long before we had to leave. Overall, it was a very fun experience that everyone in our family enjoyed. We would definitely visit again!

    Photos
    Ober Mountain
    Ober Mountain - The top of the scenic sky chair lift.

    The top of the scenic sky chair lift.

    Ober Mountain

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    Bush's Visitor Center - visitorcenters - Updated May 2026

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